Church Aperitivo Bar

After an afternoon of basking on local art at Queen St. West Art Crawl at Trinity Bellwoods Park, it should could get a foodie like me thirsty and hungry. My friend Valerie and I started somewhat early and after over 2 hours of perusing through a sea of paintings, photography, pottery intricate jewelry and such, we just had to find a place that would be comfy to wane down. Before I started my afternoon, I already have a place in mind. I intended to try Church Aperitivo Bar’s Taste Life at Five, where each drink bought from the bar would come with a complimentary antipasti. I read from their website that it changes by the day and I prayed for rice balls.

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After a short walk from the park to Dovercourt on Queen, Valerie and I finally reached the bar. It was quite understated on the outside, its façade painted a warm shade of gray. Walking in, the airiness of the space with the former church cathedral ceiling do impress. The addition of thin, sleek light feature hanging from the visible beams gave the bar a contemporary flair. There were bursts of color on its black walls with carefully selected art pieces. Even the slices of fruits for cocktails distributed on the length of the bar added to the color but showed controlled restraint.

As we walked in early, I was not worried that we didn’t have any reservations. We were greeted at the door by Philip. After we assured him that we didn’t have any intention to stay too long into the dinner hour, he conceded to have our pick of a table. After telling him of our choice of beers, he came right away with two tall glasses and placed a long white plate with crusty red bell pepper pizza squares. I was surprised with the amount of complimentary antipasti that they served. Seeing the size, Valerie and I thought it would be prudent to order two more appetizers, Polenta fries and meatballs to start. We figured if we were still hungry, we could just order for more.

As we waited, it was great to pair the beer with warm, crusty pizza. It was good accompaniment to a good conversation. Not too long into that banter Philip came back with the rest of our food. I was most curious of the polenta fries, snapping pictures right away to be able to try it while it was warm. The polenta fries came with two dips, spicy tomato and a gorgonzola fontina truffle sauce. Of the two, I was most in love with the gooey gorgonzola fontina goodness. I must say it was my favorite for that meal. It sure did trump the pizza and the meatballs that we tried.

As we finished our meal, I took one look at the interiors of the bar. That afternoon ended very well. I must say Toronto always do surprise me with gems of places like Church Aperitivo Bar. I was glad I finally made it there.